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Big Idea

Africa’s Ancient Empires

Essential Question

What effect did the Trans-Saharan trade routes have on Ghana and Mali?

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Words To Know

Trans-Saharan Trade Route – a trade route that connected

Africa to the Middle East, Asia and Europe.

Geographic features - naturally occurring landforms, bodies of water, ecosystems or climates.

Camel caravans – the use of camels to carry goods across the Sahara Desert in Africa.

Let’s Set The Stage…

For hundreds of years, trade crisscrossed West Africa. For most of that time, West Africans did not profit much from the Saharan trade because the routes were run by berbers, a group of people from northern Africa. Eventually, that situation changed. Great kingdoms came to power as they gained control of valuable trade routes in West Africa. Ghana was the first of these empires, followed by the kingdom of Mali.

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Ghana

Ghana was in an ideal position to become a trading center. To the north lay the vast (large) Sahara, a source of much of the salt in the region.

Ghana

Ghana was rich in gold and called the “land of gold”.

People wanted gold for its beauty, but they needed salt in their diets to survive.

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Salt, which could be used to preserve (save) food, also made bland food tasty. These qualities made salt very valuable.In fact, Africans sometimes cut up slabs of salt and used the pieces as money.

As trade in gold and salt increased, Ghana’s rulers gained power.

By 800, Ghana was in control of West Africa’s trade routes. Nearly all trade between northern and southern Africa passed through Ghana.

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Every trader who entered Ghana had to pay a special tax on the goods carried in and out of Ghana.

Ghana’s rulers gained incredible wealth from trade, taxes on traders and on the people of Ghana.

They used their wealth to build an army and an empire.

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Cultural Diffusion

Trading brought the people of Ghana into contact with people of many different cultures and beliefs.

As the kingdom of Ghana extended into the Sahara, increased contact with Arab traders from the east brought the religion of Islam to Ghana.

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Muslims brought their written language, coins, military technology, business methods and ideas about government.

Mali

Like Ghana, Mali lay along the upper Niger River.

This area’s fertile soil helped Mali grow.

In addition, Mali's location on the Niger allowed its people to control trade on the river.

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MaliThrough control of the trade routes, Mali grew rich and powerful.

According to legend, Mali’s rise to power began under a ruler named Sundiata.

Mali’s most famous ruler was a Muslim king named Mansa Musa

Under his leadership, Mali reached the height of its wealth, power and fame.

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Essential QuestionWhat effect did the Trans-Saharan trade routes have on Ghana and Mali?

Ghana and Mali were both located at the center of the Trans-Saharan trade routes.

Gold and salt were two of the most valuable resources traded.

By controlling trade and taxing traders, the empires of Ghana and Mali became wealthy and powerful.

The Trans-Saharan trade routes also spread Islam throughout Africa.